/ microbit

#Pounderland Solar Powered micro:bit

Time for some friday fun!

I really do love Poundland...

They stock cheap electronics that can be torn apart and turned into anything you can think of.
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Right now they have loads of these solar powered bulbs, that are quite hackable.

First we can see that they have lots of lovely micro LEDs :)
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But in the circuitry we can see a small IC called a 5252F, which takes the power from the solar cell (roughly 1.2V) and charges a small NiMH battery, but also boosts the power to 3V to power the LEDs.... By the way a great blog post on this IC here.

So this got me thinking...

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Could I power a micro:bit from this?
http://artists.scitoys.com/three_volts

Short answer...yes!

I desoldered the LEDs from the board, observing their polarity with a multimeter before doing so!

Then I snipped a spare micro:bit AAA battery box and tinned the wires. Then I added fresh solder to the board and soldered the wires, observing the polarity again!
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I then plugged in the micro:bit and went outside in the evening sun...
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First test with crocodile clips...not a great test but it briefly worked

So here it is, a proof of concept!

Still to do

  • Add a better battery so we have more time on battery.
  • Add a better solar cell..or link a few more #pounderland units together :D